Gangsterland

A Novel

"Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, known for his ability to get in and out of a crime without a trace. Until now, that is. His first-ever mistake forces Sal to botch an assassination, killing three undercover FBI agents in the process. This puts too much heat on Sal, and he knows this botched job will be his death sentence to the Mafia. So he agrees to their radical idea to save his own skin. A few surgeries and some intensive training later, and Sal Cupertine is gone, disappeared into the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. Leading his growing congregation in Las Vegas, overseeing the population and the temple and the new cemetery, Rabbi Cohen feels his wicked past slipping away from him, surprising even himself as he spouts quotes from the Torah or the Old Testament. Yet, as it turns out, the Mafia isn't quite done with him yet. Soon the new cemetery is being used as both a money and body-laundering scheme for the Chicago family. And that rogue FBI agent on his trail, seeking vengeance for the murder of his three fellow agents, isn't going to let Sal fade so easily into the desert. Gangsterland is the wickedly dark and funny new novel by a writer at the height of his power - a morality tale set in a desert landscape as ruthless and barren as those who inhabit it. "-- Provided by publisher.

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OK, hold onto your whatever, you're in for a bumpy ride! The description is accurate. Sal Cupertine, bad guy nonpareil, has to disappear and go dead. He gets reconstructive surgery and goes to Vegas where he becomes Rabbi David Cohen. Tons of stuff happens. I thought this book was the last of Rabbi Cohen but lo and behold here comes Gangster Nation - even better than the first. And judging from the ending I'd place odds on there being at least one more.

Cupertine/Cohen is a really bad man and he does terrible things. But the writing is so funny and so leap along that I find myself kind of liking him. Kind of. If you like gangster stuff with an edge and to me, anyway, a novel premise -- this delivers.